The best business headphones and earphones in 2018

The best headphones for teleconference and video calling

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The best business headphones or earphones can make a major difference to your working environment, whether you need to make and receive calls during the day or you just want to drown out your noisy colleagues.

Clearer audio, better noise-cancelling... the best business headphones can really be revolutionary for your working day. However, when you're looking to buy business headphones and earphones, you'll want to look out for a number of features that you may not necessarily think about when buying headphones for listening to music or podcasts on.

Microphone quality is just as important as sound quality, for example – after all, you want the people you're speaking to to be able to hear you as clearly as possible, and vice versa. Good noise cancelling features are a must too, especially if you work in a noisy environment: ambient noise (such as office chatter) is detected and removed while your voice is broadcast to the caller. You'll also want to make sure the headphones are comfortable to wear, of course, if you're wearing them all day.

We've assembled a list of the best business headphones and earphones, making it easier than ever for you to make the right choice – a choice which isn't always easy, considering the huge range of headphones and earphones out there.

So which headphones are the best for business users? Read on to find out what our picks are, and don't forget to use our price comparison tool to help you get the best deals for these amazing business headphones and earphones.

[Update: If you're thinking of buying some new business headphones in the near future, you're better off waiting until Black Friday on November 23 as you may find some fantastic deals on the headphones from this list. Make sure you bookmark our Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals page, which we will keep updated with the best new deals we find.]

The Oppo PM-3's are a truly stunning pair of headphones, and are an excellent choice if you're looking for some over-ear headphones for your business.

They're equally comfortable being plugged into your desktop PC for video conferencing as they are commuting through the hustle and bustle of a big city, and they stand head and shoulders above rival products from bigger brands. We really can't recommend them highly enough, they're just amazing.

Bose has finally brought its fantastic noise-cancelling technology to a pair of wireless headphones, and it's done so without any of the traditional drawbacks of wireless headphones – they sound great, and their battery life is long enough for even the longest video meeting. Going wireless with your business headphones means you have less clutter on your desk, freeing you up for more important things when on an important call.

At $349.95 (£289.95) the QC35s sit firmly at the premium end of the spectrum, but if you want the best noise-cancelling headphones available right now then you can't get any better.

The Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 offer insane battery life, great sound quality and good active noise cancellation for the business man or woman in your life. They may not offer the best noise cancellation – especially compared to the Bose QuietComfort 35s or the Fidelio NC1 – but at only $200 (£230, AU$250) it’s hard to think of a better travel headphone for the price.

Ultimately, with the BackBeat Pro 2, you’re getting a travel headphone with incredible battery life, supreme comfort, the ability to pair two device as one and, most importantly, good sound quality for the cost.

These no-holds-barred wireless headphones are oozing with positive qualities, but for many, they're almost prohibitively expensive. However, if you're an audio lover that can spare the expense, do not hesitate on this comfortable, hard-working set of headphones that will likely last for years.

If you'd rather some in-ear earphones for your business dealings, then the RHA T10i is the first set you should consider for one simple reason: the sound quality is incredible, thanks to the snug seal created when the headphones are stuck in your ear. Plus the bass is also robust for such small earphones.

The RHA T10i look slick with a metal finish around the drivers and around the cable as well. They also come with several replacement tips if the defaults don't fit your ear canal. They're more expensive than other earbuds on the list, but there's good reason they feautre at the top of our business earphones selection.

If you're in the market for the best in-ear headphones, you should really be looking at Shure's entire catalog of truly excellent in-ear options. Of them all, however, our current favorites are the Shure SE215s – they're not the top-tier performers from the audio company, but we think they offer the best performance-to-price ratio of any of Shure's headsets.

Sure, the headphones look great in their futuristic-looking translucent, space grey color, but the best bit is that you can snag the Shure SE215s for ~$100.

Life is full of trade-offs, and it's the same with the Bose QuietControl 30s. On the plus side you get a level of noise cancellation that’s on a par with the brand's over-ear headphones, but the compromise here is on sound quality, which is simply not as good as that of other in-ear or over-ear headphones we’ve tried.

However, if you're going to be using these on video or voice calls in a noisy office, then these are definitely worth considering.

The V-Moda Forza offer a lot – they sound good, are built to last, and have an innovative modular design that we really like is like nothing we’ve seen before on an earbud. The Forza, therefore, are perfect for anyone who wants headphones that can do it all, from working out to taking these with you on the morning commute to the office.

Sure, they're not the most balanced sounding or highest resolution, but the water resistance and modular design of the Forza make them a pretty compelling option.